Let’s start at the end.
“We love you, Robbie!” Mavis Staples exclaimed. “We love you!”
Late Thursday night in Los Angeles, a few minutes shy of midnight, the soul-stirring vocalist had the crowd at the Forum on their feet. Staples had just performed “The Weight” onstage with Bob Weir, Phish frontman Trey Anastasio, and an all-star band for Life Is a Carnival: A Musical Celebration of Robbie Robertson, a tribute show honoring the Band‘s guitarist, Bob Dylan collaborator, and songwriter who died in 2023.
But the Forum doubled as a Martin Scorsese set for a few hours too. The filmmaker directed the evening’s tribute show for a forthcoming concert film, close to 48 years after he filmed the Band — Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson — for their farewell show in the groundbreaking 1978 concert documentary The Last Waltz.
“We wanted it to be more than just a concert, we wanted it to be a celebration,” Robertson said of the group’s 1976 performance at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom, which made up The Last Waltz. All these years later, that music still demands to be “played loud,” as the movie’s title card advised viewers.
Over four hours at the Forum on Thursday, that’s exactly what happened. But first, there was a blessing.
“In honor of our dear brother, Robbie, I’d like to say good evening to each and every one,” Native American singer Verdell Primeaux addressed the crowd. “And in his memory, we’re going to open the show with a few good words towards the creator.” Then Primeaux, alongside fellow Native American performer Zee Wilson, sang the chanting “Peyote Healing,” a track from Robertson’s 1998 LP Contact from the Underworld of Redboy.
After a brief interlude showing a clip from Killers of the Flower Moon — the Scorsese picture for which Robertson received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score — Eric Church walked onto a stage that shimmered like it was golden hour, with chandeliers reminiscent of those in The Last Waltz hanging overhead. Wearing his signature sunglasses, Church tore into the Band’s rocking “Up on Cripple Creek” from their self-titled 1969 album, teeing up a string of highlights to follow: Ryan Bingham’s reading of “Ophelia,” Mike Campbell’s version of the Robertson-produced Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ track “Best of Everything”; and Margo Price’s stunning take on the Emmylou Harris cut “Evangeline,” penned by Robertson.
“I feel so honored to be here and carry on this tradition,” Price told Rolling Stone. “I grew up listening to the Band, and they really shaped so much of my sound. I owe a lot to Robbie’s songwriting and had the chance to perform with him at the 50th anniversary of The Last Waltz in Nashville and he was just so humble and down to earth.”
The show continued with Allison Russell, Daniel Lanois, Julian Taylor, and Logan Staats recreating “Acadian Driftwood.” “This is a Canadian song,” Russell told the crowd before playing Robertson’s story-song opus loosely based on the French and Indian War. Robert Randolph tackled “Straight Down the Line,” and introduced his “good friend, the great legend, Mr. Taj Majal,” who summoned Robertson’s days with Ronnie Hawkins with the bluesy swagger of “Who Do You Love.”
To close out the first set of the night, Bruce Hornsby sat at the piano for “Go Back to Your Woods,” a cut from Robertson’s second solo project, along with “King Harvest.” Images of Robertson appeared on screens next to the stage, some of the many archival clips that played throughout the night and will likely appear in Scorsese’s film.
One clip showed Robertson sitting at a piano talking about making “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” after his daughter was born. “When I was writing this, I had to be very quiet,” he said, going on to recall how it was “probably the most obvious example of [him] coming from Canada, going to the Mississippi Delta and these things washing over [him] down there and making a very deep impression.” Jamey Johnson ambled onstage to sing the song.
Ryan Bingham and Jamey Johnson, with Don Was on bass in the house band, perform at “Life Is a Carnival: A Musical Celebration of Robbie Robertson.” (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
Variety via Getty Images
A second set got rolling with Lanois singing a gorgeous cover of “Broken Arrow,” which he produced for Robertson’s first solo album. Warren Haynes lit up the night’s theme song, “Life Is a Carnival,” followed by Lucinda Williams’ stirring performance of “Whispering Pines,” a “beautiful song co-written by Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson,” she told the crowd.
“The Band’s music and Robbie’s songwriting has been the soundtrack to my life … and a huge influence on what I do and how I approach songwriting,” Nathaniel Rateliff told Rolling Stone earlier, before going on to perform a soulful, stripped-down “Twilight” over minimal piano. “Even the stuff that they did with Bob Dylan and the Basement Tapes was always a huge lesson in what songs can be and how you can write songs and they can take any form or direction,” he told RS. Rateliff also played a grooving “Across the Great Divide,” and later joined Price and the house band for a roaring singalong of “Don’t Do It.”
But for all the A-list guests, it was those with actual Last Waltz history that carried the most weight: Van Morrison and Eric Clapton both called back to their time on the Winterland Ballroom stage. Morrison rocked through three tracks, including “Tupelo Honey,” “Days Like This,” and “Wonderful Remark,” though not, alas, the high-kicking “Caravan” (Warren Haynes would sing that one later). Clapton showed his admiration for Robertson and the Band with five back-to-back bangers, including his Last Waltz contribution “Further on Up the Road” and a faithful version of “The Shape I’m In.”
For the final set, Bingham delivered an emotional cover of Dylan and the Band’s “Forever Young” with Price, while Jim James handled “It Makes No Difference,” Haynes sang “Stage Fright,” and Weir rendered “When I Paint My Masterpiece,” which the Grateful Dead often covered.
“In the style of music that I play, the Band is the foundation — I grew up listening to this music and it’s the high water mark,” Trey Anastasio, who sang “Unfaithful Servant,” told Rolling Stone before the show. “So being able to take part in a couple of the songs from this huge legacy of masterpieces that were left behind by Robbie and the Band it just means so much.”
The Phish guitarist added that they were “the complete unit,” and “one of the greatest American rock bands of all time.” But Anastasio most emphasized Robertson’s songwriting. “Bands are great,” he said, “but songs, that’s where it all starts. So thank you, Robbie.”
Set List
“Peyote Healing” Blessing and Chant – Verdell Primeaux & Zee Wilson
“Up on Cripple Creek” – Eric Church
“Ophelia” – Ryan Bingham
“The Best of Everything” – Mike Campbell
“Evangeline” – Margo Price
“Acadian Driftwood” – Allison Russell, Daniel Lanois, Julian Taylor, Logan Staats
“Straight Down the Line” – Robert Randolph
“Who Do You Love” – Taj Mahal
“Down South in New Orleans” – Dave Malone & Cyril Neville
“Go Back to Your Woods” – Bruce Hornsby
“King Harvest” – Bruce Hornsby
“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” – Jamey Johnson
“Broken Arrow” – Daniel Lanois
“Life Is a Carnival” – Warren Haynes and All-Star Band
“Whispering Pines” – Lucinda Williams
“Twilight” – Nathaniel Rateliff
“Across the Great Divide” – Nathaniel Rateliff
“Rag Mama Rag” – Jamey Johnson
“Don’t Do It” – Nathaniel Rateliff (with Margo Price)
“Tupelo Honey” – Van Morrison
“Days Like This” – Van Morrison
“Wonderful Remark” – Van Morrison
“The Shape I’m In” – Eric Clapton
“Out of the Blue” – Eric Clapton
“Forbidden Fruit” – Eric Clapton
“Chest Fever” – Eric Clapton
“Further on Up the Road” – Eric Clapton
“Forever Young” – Ryan Bingham
“It Makes No Difference” – Jim James
“Stage Fright” – Warren Haynes
“Caravan” – Warren Haynes
“When I Paint My Masterpiece” – Bob Weir
“The Unfaithful Servant” – Trey Anastasio
“Look Out Cleveland” – Trey Anastasio
“The Weight” Mavis Staples (with Trey Anastasio, Bob Weir)
“I Shall Be Released” – Jamey Johnson, Jim James, Allison Russell & Ensemble
